THE Bishop of Durham vowed to help get to the bottom of the latest banking scandal, as part of a new parliamentary inquiry - despite it being branded a whitewash.

The Right Revd Justin Welby will sit on a ten-strong 'Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards', set up after the revelation that Barclays rigged the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

It has been asked to report by the end of the year on the "professional standards and culture of the UK banking sector", in the wake of the scandal.

However, the inquiry has been dogged by controversy, after the Government rejected Labour calls for a more thorough, judge-led probe into the banking industry.

The parliamentary investigation was then condemned as a whitewash after two outspoken MPs on the Treasury select committee - Labour's John Mann and Andrea Leadsom, a Conservative - were left off the Commission.

But Bishop Welby said he had experience of the City of London, having worked for many years as a trader in the oil industry, before his ordination, and in "ethical investing", more recently.

He said: "I am very honoured to have been invited to take part in this important inquiry, which has an impact on all of us because ethical markets are essential to a flourishing economy and, thus, jobs.

"The work commitment is obviously going to be intense, but short-lived."

The Commission will be headed by Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie and will boast former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson, now Lord Lawson, among its membership.

It has been asked to examine the "lessons to be learned about corporate governance, transparency and conflicts of interest, and their implications for regulation and for government policy".

Yesterday, the head of compliance at HSBC quit in front of a US Senate subcommittee, after it emerged the bank had exposed the US to billions of dollars worth of money laundering, drug trafficking, and terrorist financing.